A 1997 Hazardous Material Shipment Study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) indicates that approximately 3.1 billion tons of hazardous materials were transported in the United States in 1997, which is roughly 8.5 million tons per day. Specifically, approximately 0.5 billion tons of chemicals and 2.6 billion tons of petroleum products were transported in 1997. Furthermore, between 1996-2005, there were more than 150,000 hazardous material transportation incidents reported to the USDOT. The USDOT defines hazardous materials (HAZMAT) as belonging to one of nine classes of materials, including explosives, gases, flammable solids, flammable liquids, oxidizers and organic peroxides, toxic materials and infectious substances, radioactive materials, corrosive materials and miscellaneous dangerous goods. Each of these classes of materials is dangerous and potentially harmful to people, and therefore, caution should be utilized in their handling and transportation. Accordingly, it is important to be able to accurately and efficiently monitor the transportation of such hazardous materials.
Monitoring may include asset tracking or it may include incident notification in the event of an incident such as a leak or spill of hazardous materials. Monitoring sensors are known that can quickly and accurately detect a hazardous material incident. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0046567 discloses a sensor for monitoring the internal environment of a container. However, a monitoring network that efficiently integrates and connects such available sensors is desired.
Unfortunately, a more recent issue with hazardous materials is concern regarding the administration of chemical weapons. Risk of introduction of a terrorist biological, radiological or explosive device via a transportation container is high, and the consequences to people and property surrounding such container could be catastrophic. Further, such a terrorist incident could cripple the international economy because of the importance of transportation containers in world commerce.